Re: Russian vowel ?

"Satish" wrote:

> > Are there languages not related to the Slavic ones
> > that have this vowel?

Ruud Harmsen replied:

> And Rumanian â/î.

Really? Romanian â/î sounds to me like a low (not mid/neutral)
unrounded vowel -- very much like /u/, but unrounded.

I suspect many English speakers, upon hearing the country's name
(România), would think they had heard "Romunia", since the rounded
and unrounded variants of /u/ are interchangeable in many English
dialects.

Rich Wales richw@xxxxxxxxx http://www.richw.org

.

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